The Right Moment
by LordHeathcliff
Summary: Rachel is ready. Everything is in place, and she is poised to strike. All she has to do now, is wait for the right moment. A Tower of God fic. Set in between the Crown Game, and the Last Examination.


**Hello! I've wanted to write this for a while, and now i finally am. I hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tower of God, or any of its characters.**

Rachel didn't know how much longer she could take it. Every minute that passed, every second she spent in his company tested her patience. Every word that fool uttered made her want to leap from her wheelchair, and wring his neck until the light in those wide, innocent eyes sputtered out. The thought of the look that would be on his face brought a smirk to her lips. The thought of his shock, his dumb confusion, made her want to throw back her head and cackle in derision.

Of course, she couldn't do it with him there. And he was _always_ there. Whenever she turned around, he was right there. Always looking at her, always smiling at her. Rachel swore, if he smiled any more at her, his face would get stuck that way. And if he wasn't smiling at her, he was smiling at one of those damn friends of his. Koon Aguero Agnis was the worst of them. Some prodigy from one of the Ten Great Families, he seemed to have latched onto Baam, and Baam seemed to have returned the favor. Normally, she wouldn't have cared, but she could tell this Koon character was dangerous. He was smart, much smarter than any other regular she had met. It was too early to tell, but it seemed like he was onto her. That would make her upcoming job much more complicated.

Rachel had made a deal with some dangerous people. They had told her they would help her climb the tower, in exchange for her service on a certain matter. Rachel was skeptical, but she didn't have much of a choice, HE had stolen everything from her, but she wasn't going to let that be the end of her dream. She was going to climb the Tower, and she was going to see the stars in the night sky.

No matter what she had to do to get there.

And so, Rachel accepted their offer. They set her up with some powerful teammates, and sent her on her way. And a short while ago, they had called in their favor. She had been frightened about what they would ask of her. After all, FUG wasn't known for their peaceful methods. Hwa-Ryun had told her, right before the Crown Game, what they needed of her.

They ordered her to kill the 25th Baam.

Rachel had been waiting for an opportunity to exact revenge on Baam, and FUG had handed her one on a silver platter. She could hardly contain her excitement, but it was mixed with an equal amount of trepidation. How was she going to do it? She couldn't just stab him in the back. Lero-ro would disqualify her from the tests, and maybe even incarcerate her, and then she would never see the stars.

But that paled in comparison to what Koon might do to her if he found out she was responsible for the death of his friend.

So a crude method like that wouldn't work. Poison, maybe? No, that wouldn't work either. They would still know it was murder, and even though they wouldn't know it was her, Koon would suspect her. And while Koon wasn't one to act on suspicion alone, someone as intelligent as him had ways of finding proof that others couldn't. What options did she have left, then? Anything directly involving her was too risky. If she left anything that could trace back to her, she was finished. Baam had an irritating habit of making allies of everyone she met, so she almost certainly couldn't enlist anyone to do the deed for her. Every possible method Rachel came up with was immediately scrapped, due to some unavoidable flaw.

Rachel couldn't hold back the snarl of frustration that came to her lips at her lack of progress. Baam turned back to look at her in alarm, asking if she was alright. She returned his kind smile with a false one. She assured him it was simply back pain, from her earlier injury. Baam, ever the caretaker, offered to seek a doctor for her. She waved off his offer with a smile that was as fake as the first. Every time she brought a false smile to her lips, she was frightened that he would see through it. Fortunately for her, all Baam could see was her facade. He stood up and left the room, to get the two of them some lunch. The second the door closed behind him, she stood up. For a moment she just stood in place, getting used to being back on her feet after her long stint in the chair. Then, she hurried over to the door, locking it. _Wouldn't want Baam to walk in on me like this_, she thought to herself._ It would be a bit of a challenge to keep up the charade, if he did. Then again, if I told him it was a spontaneous miracle, he'd probably believe it. Fool_.

After stretching her legs for a bit, she sat down on her bed, not eager to get back in the chair. After all, who knew when she would be alone like this again, with Baam always acting as her shadow? She gritted her teeth, her hands curling into fists at the reminder that this moment of solitude would be over when Baam returned. She was so sick of these fleeting moments of freedom, but what could she do? She had to keep up the charade that she was paralyzed. Rachel knew she probably couldn't defeat Baam if it came to blows. She had to catch him by surprise. The fact that she can still walk will be her hidden trump card, if need be.

However, Rachel was not completely heartless. Even as she planned the murder of her first, and only friend, she felt a small pang of regret. Of course, that feeling was soon obliterated by the rage she feels when she remembers the reason for her hate. The reason she needed to make a deal to climb the tower in the first place. That son of a bitch had stolen her place in the tower. Headon claimed "the Tower chose him" but to Rachel, that made no sense. If anyone deserved to climb, it was her. Baam was a fool. He had no idea what she was willing to, what she was willing to sacrifice, in order to climb the Tower.

Just thinking about his innocent, naive disposition sent her into a blind rage. Before she could stop herself, she grabbed a decorative vase sitting on the bedside table, and threw it with all of her strength. It sailed through the air before smashing to pieces on the far wall. She knew she had to dispose of the pieces before Baam came back, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Hot, angry tears filled her eyes, and she gritted her teeth, determined not to let them fall. The last thing she was going to do is look vulnerable in front of Baam, the one who caused this. She took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. Baam would be back any minute, and she couldn't let him see past her facade and see her true self underneath. At least, not yet. Just as she was disposing of the last of the shattered pieces, there was a rattling sound of someone shaking the doorknob, followed by the sounds of a key being fit into the lock. _Speak of the Devil, and he shall appear,_ Rachel thought to herself. She rushed back into her chair, settling into it just as Baam opened the door, holding two bowls of tangsooyook. He smiled at her, and again, Rachel was forced to put on the role of the kind-hearted, injured friend.

But every role ends when the final curtain falls.

"Hey Rachel, I'm back. But why did you lock the door?"

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to feel safe, Baam. You never know who might be hiding in the shadows."

"Well, I suppose that's true. But you don't have to worry, Rachel. I will protect you, no matter what." Baam flashed her another one of his damned smiles. He was so pathetic, it made her sick. However, for the sake of appearances, she forced a blush onto her face, and pretended to be flattered by his words, as if the very thought of him didn't repulse her to the core. They began eating their lunch, in what Rachel was sure Baam considered a companionable silence. But to her, the silence felt suffocating. At that moment, she would have given anything for an interruption.

Suddenly, as if answering her silent prayer, the sound of footsteps thumping in the hallway outside alerted Baam and Rachel that someone was approaching their room. That was there only warning before Koon Aguero Agnis burst in without warning. This disregard for proper manners was rather unusual behavior, from someone so refined and polite.

"Baam, Rachel, I'm sorry to burst in unannounced, but you need to head to the conference room. Our final examination for this floor will begin soon, and you need to be briefed on it."

"What can you tell us about it?" Baam asked.

"You'll get most of the details in the briefing, but i've already devised our plan, so i can tell you a bit about your roles. You two will be working together on this one, just the two of you. I don't expect too much trouble in your area, but be careful anyways. Anything can happen in a test like this, and this one sounds rather dangerous. Lero-ro told us about some creature called the Bull, that sounds especially dangerous" Koon replied.

"We'll make sure to be careful. Thank you, Mr. Koon" Rachel thanked him absentmindedly, her mind already whirring, considering the possibilities.

"No need to thank me, Rachel. That's what teammates are for" Koon said. His gaze lingered on her for a moment longer than necessary, eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly in suspicion. He turned on his heel and made his way to his room, to prepare for the test. _Hmmm, something seemed…..off about Rachel. I know Baam trusts her, but….I'm not sure she's trustworthy. After the test, I'll investigate further. I just hope that if something IS wrong, I figure it out in time_. Koon disregarded his suspicions for the moment, and began the final preparations for their final test of the 2nd floor.

Baam made his way to the conference room, with Rachel wheeling herself behind him. Baam was speculating about the nature of the upcoming test, but Rachel's thoughts were of a more sinister nature. _An accident during a dangerous test._ She thought to herself_ Why didn't I think of it before!? It's like Koon said. Anything can happen in a test like this. And afterwards, I'll play the part of a heartbroken friend, nobody will suspect anything. And then, without him holding me back, i can keep climbing. I'll go all the way to the top, no matter what._

After they had been properly briefed, they met up with the rest of the regulars, and prepared to disembark on their examination. Baam turned to her as they were about to leave.

"Are you ready, Rachel?"

"Oh yes, Baam. I've been ready for a long time"

And she was ready. Everything was in place, and she was poised to strike.

All she had to do was wait for the right moment.

**Hello! I hope you enjoyed this story! I went back and forth with a lot of different ideas for this story, and I think this version of it was the best one i made. Please favorite and review, thank you very much!**


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